May 7, 2016Unconventional Landscapes: Protected Areas Expansion in NamibiaDespite its arid lands, Namibia is rich in biodiversity. To date, it has 20 state-run protected areas comprising nearly 17% of the country’s total land area. These protected areas are a centrepiece of Namibia’s tourism industry, which in turn sustainably supports the country’s economic development.
May 7, 2016Settling in VasdraaiMany Namibians in rural areas work on commercial farms, privately owned, to earn a living and support their families. For some, this suddenly changed in 1997 when 73 families, who were previously employed as farm workers and squatters on the Seeis farm near Windhoek, were expelled and resettled on the Vasdraai farm.
May 7, 2016Adapting to water shortages in arid Namibia“Normally it rains this time of year, but not a drop has fallen,” complains farmer Paulus Amutenya. “My crops are burning on the field.” It’s mid‐November in Outapi, a small farming town in Northern Namibia, not far from the Angolan border. Outapi is always hot, but this year the rains that cool the soil and allow crops to germinate are exceptionally late. For weeks now farmers have been praying for clouds to appear in the clear blue sky.
May 7, 2016Improve your goat and beat climate changeThe shadows are already getting longer as we head off to tate Reinhard’s homestead deep in the mopane woodlands of northern Namibia. Andreas Shilomboleni, coordinator of the Country Pilot Partnership’s (CPP) Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) project guns the Landcruiser over sandy roads that meander between the thousands of oshana’s ‐ open spaces that get flooded in the rainy season.
May 7, 2016UNDP supports mushroom projectSituated in Luderitz, a coastal town of Namibia, the Oukumwe Support Group Mushroom Project has developed production methodologies for the cultivation of oyster mushroom, which is among the crops that have been successfully adapted to the coastal environment. The project is supported by the Global Environment Facility Small Grant Programme (GEF SGP) and implemented by UNDP.